InDesign mail merge question

Started by DigiCorn, February 14, 2018, 11:37:00 AM

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DigiCorn

Without the use of a third party plug-in or software, does anyone know how to remove a space inserted between two fields on the same line in the even that one of the fields is empty? I know if you click "remove blank..." it removes the entire line, but I just need to remove the space character between two fields...

OR

I need to merge the two fields together either in InDesign OR merge the two columns in Excel (also removing the space).
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Tracy

what happens when you merged the two fields in excel?

DigiCorn

We figured that part out... now just looking for an indesign repair
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Farabomb

Maybe add/remove the double space in the merge data before importing it into indy?
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DigiCorn

no...
imaging you have these fields:  <<address1>> <<address2>> with the space in between, and on the same line...
maybe in some cases, <<address1>> has nothing in it (but mostly <<address2>> is empty... mostly....) and you want to have ID remove the space in the instances where <<address1>> is blank so that <<address2>> scoots over and is still aligned with the lines above and below.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Tracy

can you add a space after address 1 instead of adding the space in indesign, there is a way to honor the space
also you could merge Address 1 with a column that has an unused character and find change in indy to a space

DigiCorn

Is there a quick way to do this in the event there are thousands of records?
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

So the space is not in the fields? It just a space between the 2 fields in InDesign. Backspace key to delete the space? You can tell InDesign to ignore empty fields and when address1 is blank address2 should move over into its place.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

Tracy

#8
create a new column type   =concatenate(A1," ",B1)
the a1 and b1 is your column letters so adjust accordingly
the quotes have a space in between for adding a space

and then copy the formula (new fieldname) all the way down, click new  field cell and you will see a plus sign bottom right of the cell, drag all the way down. let me know if you need a screen shot

start typing =c and concatenate will show up, or you can copy paste my formula and change the A and B to your column letters needed

Oh yeah almost forgot, If you try and delete your original rows weird things happen so either leave them
or create a new row select your new combined row, copy and then Paste Values into a new row, then you can delete the other rows.

Tracy

When there isn't an Address 1 when your doing a merge the space before address 2 will not be honored.

DigiCorn

#10
Thanks... I'll try that out

[edit] Hey - that works in Apple Numbers too!
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

You add the space in InDesign after you add the field in. Or at least I do it that way.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.